BLOG TO COMM

Yeah, what an existence. But eh, it's an existence that I sure can stand existing in, if that makes a whole lotta sense to ya. Still sweating it out here in Western Pee-YAY (a distant relative of "yippie-ki-o-ki-YAY") trying to survive in a populace that doesn't seem to really be worth bothering with one iota but eh, what else would you expect of a state that would actually elect people like Josh Shapiro ("A great percentage of Pennsylvanians are too extreme for Pennsylvania") and John Fetterman (all of your fave old time sitcom characters rolled into one) to positions of potential annihilation anyway? Still I, at least in my advanced age, wouldn't wanna live anywhere else other'n the tri-county area (or maybe eastern Ohio as long as it isn't Campbell or East Palestine)...things like rural roads, rustic scenery (which to me is all of the same century-old houses that I've seen my entire life as well as industrial parks and landfills) and people who thankfully have missed out on THE GREAT SEXUAL IDENTITY AND SELF-LOATHING CRISIS that is so prevalent elsewhere are what's making me wanna stick 'round these parts. Sure a lotta the females are tubboids or just too scrawny and plain looking enough to raise anything but one's ire, but it ain't like one really needs to be around 'em if one's well stocked up on NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazines not to mention some old art books!

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Is this really the visage of a beautiful nude woman that I'm seeing in this 1949 FERD'NAND cartoon??? Well, I gotta say that the lass pictured above sure does look mighty inspiring to me! And here I thought that nude gal who popped up in a '67 DICK TRACY Sunday page was way ahead of the game which just goes to show ya what kinda people them Danes really are!

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While sifting through the flotsam of a good six or seven years (no, make that decades) of things that have been shoved into corners here and there one does come up with a few surprises. Like man, who'd'a thought that anyone woulda saved some old kiddie-era drawing made by none other'n me considerin' that --- like --- this art ain't exactly somethin' for the AGES like a good full frontal 'r anything. I'm guessing that I was about five or more likely six (who'm I kiddin'---twenny-five --- I mean, have ya read any of my early writings?) when I did these because my vocabulary is right about in the range of HOP ON POP, though after all these years I wonder...who was Gustavus anyway??? And is "Bay Tovin" the one who "love girl"?!! That last pic of a gal onna swing ain't mine unless I was going through one of those "questioning" periods that woulda gotten my dick lopped off had they had the kind of stool teachers they have these days. Naw, that was definitely my cyster's own handiwork which only goes to show ya that if she thought she was doin' a self portrait boy was she way off the mark! Anyway, hope you enjoy alla this budding suburban slob just-post turdler artwork and remember, "boy Do not Go to the..." and if its raneing take an umbrella.

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YAY! to Wade Oberlin for sending me (after I did my usual amt. of groveling) the latest issue of FAUX WOOD PANELING! It's perhaps the ONLY fanzine (in the truest bluest form) being made these days and it's a whole load of fun as well, even more fun'n when you were a kid and you spilled your entire mug of A&W down the rear speaker. You read my review of #1 back in the spring --- well, this is more of the same only more so, and you can bet your bottom buckskin that its just as loony as the first with more of them spirit of Meltzer musings and things you just won't see anyone else doing (on the printed or pixel page) these days! 

This mag is so whacked out to the point where Mr. Oberlin even interviewed his own dad (a cool idea but ya lost me when ya hadda go and mention the retch-inducing Michael Stanley Band), and the coverage given to Eddie Flowers and Heavy Mother was a real treat as well. However, I thought that Heavy Mother was that Alabama biker band that Flowers wrote about in an ancient issue of TEENAGE WASTELAND GAZZET (sick!).  As Vinnie Barbarino used to say, "I'm so confused..." You can get it all (and maybe even more since my package came with a THREE STOOGES comic book that already got lost in the rubble of my own fart-encrusted boudoir) via Wade.Oberlin@gmail.com and you better...

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Now for the reviews which I think ain't up to my usual snuff especially when you consider that I've been on a virtual roll at least since January but eh, even me at my most nerve-frazzled and inspiration-less comes off better'n most of the competition when they're pumping on all cylinders so be thankful for once, willya? STRANGE BUT TRUE DEPARTMENT: none of the spinners reviewed today were sent by either Paul McGarry or Robert Forward which kinda make me feel nice inside thinkin' that I'm not the mooch that I have strived to be for lo too many years. The only freebee this time comes from the aforementioned Mr. Oberlin, 'n I betcha ya can't guess which one that is!

Luther Thomas-11TH STREET FIRE SUITE CD (Corbett Vs. Dempsey Records)

Yay! The Corbett/Dempsey label has once again come to the rescue, saving me from having to dish out heavy duty ebay $$$ for a platter that, way back in the early-early eighties, I was considering purchasing via the NMDS catalog! Too bad things like dismal financial straits and the fact that I can't have everything that I want sorta got inna way of dumping all my hard begged on fun things like records and letting the less important trivialities like savings and utilities just cook on the back burner. Prioratize man, prioritize.

Maybe it was best that I waited to hear this effort from BAG mainstay Luther Thomas because, had I given it a go way back when, this spinner just might have been too o-mind even for an eager learner such as myself to filter through the sieve-like mind. Thomas, a man who had clocked in many punk funk hours with the Human Arts Ensemble before moving to NYC to hobnob with the likes of James Chance, really strives for the sonic cosmos with this duo effort with the man playing some mighty post-post-POST Ayler tones (maybe even post-post-POST Mitchell or Jarman for that matter) accompanied by flautist Luther C. Petty, with the two Luthers trying their best (and succeeding!) taking the ideals of the first generation of free players and splattering 'em on the pavement even more.

Unlike some of the various AACM and BAG recordings that I've heard since day uno, there is nary a hint of any Great Black Music slap on the dashiki historical references with European classical modes here and African folk ritual there --- Thomas and Petty play on as twisted and as free without the eclecticism, diving face first into the freeform sway to the point where even the old standby "Since I Lost My Baby" gets an avant blues treatment that woulda given Ivory Joe Hunter let alone Pat Boone conniptions. In typical AACM/BAG fashion "small instruments" are utilized to add them much appreciated tinges of sound coloration, and don't forget Thomas' own vocalizing which, in that ol' free jazz holler style, twists and screeches in a last gasp of a fashion that naturally fits in with a music custom made for your own frayed nerve endings.

Nice 'nuff reproduction of the original cover as well although the liner notes are way too small to make out and were not reprinted in the mini-gatefold for that much needed perusal. Anyone willing to send a readable version my way will not be thanked, but feel good that you did something for a person who is undoubtedly way better than yourself.

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AFFLICTED MAN MUSICAL BOX 1979-1981 CD-r burn

That guy from Finland's still at it burnin' a whole lotta outta print punk rock that I get the feeling is gonna stay outta print given that nobody gives a good golly ned anymore, as if they ever did inna first place. (Wait, didn't this come out legit-like during the big Steve Hall reissue frenzy a good decade back? Too lazy to even google it myself to find out!)

Whaddeva this contains the entire Afflicted Man MUSICAL BAG album with the rare enough singles that I'm sure you've all spun many a time so there's no need to get into the gritty details. Nice sleeve here and the sound's so good you wonder where the original source came from, though I coulda done without those electronic screeches between the cuts which I assume's the fault of the Finn who fleshed this one out.

If you can snatch this up fine, and don't forget the other Steve Hall Afflicted/Afflicted Man/Accursed efforts (like Hall's go out in a blaze of glory "Going Down"/"I Didn't Mean It" which is perhaps the most pumped up 45 rpm production made since the MC5's "Looking At You" --- still waiting for a Metal Virgins burn which might head my way more later than sooner)!

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Various Artists-BLOODSTAINS ACROSS THE MIDWEST CD-r burn (no label)

The same Finn who released the above did us all whatcha'd call a public service here, not only for people who missed out on the original releases but those who missed out on the BLOODSTAINS series as well. Lotsa this has since been legitimately released but then again a lot hasn't so no matter who you are you're gonna be in for a nice treat given the wide array of talent presented on what you could call a late-seventies take on the PEBBLES series. 

Tracks that caught me by the tail include the Embarrassment's "Sex Drive ('member when they were the hyped up under-the-counterculture group poised to do great things back in the early-eighties?), Detroit's Cult Heroes (with former MC5 roadie Hiawatha Bailey who sure had some wild tales to tell!) with their "Berlin Wall"...and of course Cleveland shoulda-beens the Baloney Heads doing a rather spiffy Who rewrite entitled "I'm a Drunk" which was so good that it even got them some FM radio air time and even a few live radio spots! Of course some industry connections sure helped 'em out but I ain't complainin' like I know they weren't. 

Heck, this platter reminds me of the surge of wild creativity that was bursting forth all over the place back then although you never woulda known it if your main source of musical information was Anastasia Pantsios. And knowin' quite a few of you doofs I know she probably was...

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Smegma-LIVE AT THE NEW PARIS, PORTLAND OREGON, 1/25/98 CD-r burn

Listening to this reminds me of that now-deleted R. Meltzer hype that the erstwhile rock figure wrote about the group's general musical musings referencing everything from "A Day in the Life" to FREE JAZZ with all points between thrown in. The best thing about it is they're doing it all LIVE...

An album that only goes to show ya just how freaked out soundwise yet true to the core of rock 'n roll (and even jazz) form Smegma are. The sound the group emits touches on not only the above refs but has still enough room for the Creative Construction Company, ONE RUINED LIFE OF A BRONZE TOURIST and even that one rock group whose name I dread mentioning considering the twisto changeo of their entire DNA makeup from hard street blare to giddy college student jellybabydom. This is some mighty exploratory music (maybe even an aural version of an exploratory on your very own Mammoth Cave) which takes the usual "art" angle and splatters it all over the pavement mashing it all into utter meaninglessness. Enough that if alla those music and art teachers who always told ya that you were not allowed to play scrunchy primitive music or create free abstract art until you learned the basics of "professionalism" heard this they'd know they were wrong alla the time. 

Sure that attitude will lead to some heavily leaden and self-indulgent works some if not most of the time, but here it has all the more meaning just like the Shaggs did or even bands like Mars and Red Transistor who had nary an idea of what proper forms of playing were, but bulldozed their way into the pantheon of rockist beauty because of their thankfully unprofessional outlook.

One thing that might get your favorite cloven hoofed animal is that, although the sound is otherwise hi-fi stereo 1961 clear enough for me, Meltzer's vocals are buried even deeper than a fat man's penis. However, given some of the mature subject matter that's at hand as one might surmise from such titles as "S*** of God" and "Up Your A**" not forgetting "I Never F***** My Sister" maybe it's best they REMAIN that way in case you're extremely skittish about such subject matter or worse yet your Aunt Flabby just happens to be stopping by. Maybe there is a version of this for less bashful listeners and if so, maybe you'll be first in line to snatch one up but I won't because I'm quite satisfied with this thing as it is!

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Caligula-TECHNICAL AGGRESSION LP (Ripping Storm Records)

Lotsa eighties heavy metal really drilled holes through your psyche, while an even number of these acts just bored the Stove Top outta ya. Caligula was one group that fortunately stuck to the hole drilling aspects of the metallic realm not only borrowing heavily from the then-still exciting Metallica, but by adding some interesting sonic flourishing of their own. Interesting neo-classical tinges here and interesting Anthrax-derived moves there give this record an added oomph to differentiate it from the rest of the newer than new metal bands that were beginning to sprout up all over the place. And the fact that these guys were doing it on a small label without any slick technodrivel to commercialize it for stoners who wanted slick music makes this 'un all the better!

It might be easy enough for you to find, given that I have the feeling that not too many of these sold.

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The Fastbacks-1985 OK LP  (Hey Suburbia Records)

I'll always be grateful to Imants Krumins for clueing me in to this mid-eighties Seattle band that, thankfully, left a whole load of the neo-hippie self-consciousness that the local scene was famous for outta their act. Like the more entertaining (to my own rockist attitude) groups to burst forth from that period in time, the Fastbacks took a whole load of the best the seventies had to offer (power pop, early punk musings, heavy metal before it got an image) and wrapped it up into a rather pleasant package that was a great alternative (in the truest form) to the load of ech! that was going on in just about every corner of the music world. Seventies rock titans the Sweet get covered here, as does the Jefferson Airplane with the best re-do of their catalog since the Pink Fairies laid down "3/5 of a Mile in Ten Seconds" during an early-seventies John Peel session (I'm exaggeratin' here but only a little!).

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Just yer usual reminder that back issues of BLACK TO COMM are still available, and that you should be buying 'em all up before I really run out of interesting things to say 'bout gettin'  'em which is probably going to be in the very near future.